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There is nothing duty-like about attending a competition for String
Quartets. In fact, after the violish monotony of “All Reger, all the
time”, it’s rather like taking a vacation. Apparently it's not just
me who feels this way: Whereas only hardy enthusiasts, fellow
violists, and their friends followed the viola competition in the
sequestered Studio 1 of the Bavarian Broadcasting Service (BR), the
auditorium of the Munich Conservatory was packed with listeners
eager to be treated to the first of three free concerts by 11
promising young string quartets from around the world.

The opening salvo was fired by the Quartet Feruz from
Uzbekistan. Dinara Sabitova and Feruza Normatova (violins), Aybek
Ashirmatov (viola) and Oybek Imamov (cello) began with Haydn’s
op.77, no.1, an experience that was akin to bathing in good music.
But good music isn’t enough at a competition, it also needs to be
played well. The four Uzbeks got credit for explosiveness and a
catchy beat, which almost made up for the wayward intonation in the
first two movements. Every movement of this rather densely played
quartet emphasized that rhythm is their strong suit, not accuracy or
transparency.

Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for String Quartet, with the
Concertino for String Quartet tacked on as a last movement, only
furthered that impression. Convenient, because the third movement
(“Canticle”) apart, the work lends itself to that approach as much
as the movement titles (“Dance” and “Eccentric”) suggest. A pity
that the building's roof had to be fixed just then – because the
repairman, apparently banging on metal pipes, only nearly got
the syncopated rhythm right. A capable performance with exciting
moments – but probably not competitive for its lack of intonation
and clarity. Extra points for not even blinking during the
unexpected percussion solo from above, though!

Next up was the two-year old Afiara String Quartet
from Canada with a performance of the Beethoven op.18/1 [IMSPL
score] every bit as professional sounding as their
sleek website
looks. Valerie Li, Yuri Cho (violins), David Samuel (viola), and
Adrian Fung (cello) played the Beethoven swift and lean, finely spun
to the point of thinness – suggesting something between
extraordinary sophistication or timidity. Their understatement and
clarity was in stark contrast to the previous quartet, and their
ultra-sensitive touch (especially Fung and Mlle. Li with her
sustained pianissimos) a delight. High speeds proved no problem in
the Scherzo and while the fleet Allegro wasn’t
particularly probing, it was satisfyingly ‘classical’.

But that was but the appetizer: Berg’s Lyric Suite
followed, and this was just incredibly well done. Three pieces into
the contest, and already time for gushing: More engaged than the
Beethoven and more forceful, though still benefiting from the
already displayed lean qualities, this had transparency and tenacity
right next to each other. From the wispy opening of the third
movement (like an electrical storm) to the fourth movement (coming
in parts closest to what the general publics’ understanding of
“lyric” is), the performance only got more and more involved. Hushed
voices, shivers, and lots of spunk: The four performers dug deep and
came up with the riches.

After such splendor, it would have been greedy to ask for more of
the kind, but then that’s more or less what the Gémeaux Quartett
(averaging 28 years and also with a
stylish website) did.
In Haydn’s all-too-rarely played op.50/2 [IMSPL
score] they offered a homogeneous and very civilized
sound from the first violin (Anne Schoenholtz) down to the cello (Uli
Witteler). Very befitting a piece of music that is equally elegant.
There were so many instances in which the ears delighted: wonderful
key shifts in the Adagio: Cantabile, thankful passages for
the first violin, the humorous Trio with its stop & go
joviality… reminding even in the most minute parts why Haydn is such
a great composer. That they loosened up a little over the course of
the quartet enabled the Finale to be truly “Vivace assai”.

Their chosen 20th century piece (from a list of 16) was
Schoenberg’s Third, op.30, by all means a tough nut to crack for
players and listeners alike. The psychology of ‘advanced music
lovers’ is such that they will actually find a work like Schoenberg
No.3 enjoyable, maybe even beautiful. It is, of course, no more
beautiful than a bulldog or boxer – which is to say: ugly, by any
sane, objective standard. But just ask any owner of such a dog and
they will give you a lecture on how very beautiful their
extraordinarily misunderstood little pooches are. Sort of the same
with Schoenberg - despite the fact that it has considerably less
obvious beauty than the (also difficult, though much more rewarding)
Lyric Suite.

Being afflicted by the very same warping of aesthetic values, I am
finding the Schoenberg String Quartets (and not just the bona fide
romantic, dainty unnumbered ones!) more and more pleasurable, in a
refreshing, tart way. The very committed and very detailed
performance of the Gémeaux Quartett contributed significantly to
that pleasure. As is the case with any expert rendition, the
perfectly dissonant music suddenly becomes alive with rhythm and can
even (very occasionally) wax poetically and indulge in accidental
harmony. One ceases to ask the music to make sense in any
conventional way and discovers its own, autarkic, sense.
Beautiful, though, the quartets are not. And No.3 least of them.
If the chaotic streak of the fourth movement made it a bit more
difficult to be quite as on top of the music and the piece became
tough going, after all, it wasn’t for lack of craftsmanship on part
of the performers. The ears simply ran out of benevolence at some
point.

Concluding the first day of string quartets, the all-female
Belgian/Dutch EnAccord String Quartet (website
with lots of pictures) first played Haydn’s op.33/1. A very, very
delicate second violin (Helena Druwe) stood out, the trading of
phrases was delectable, and only the ripped forte chords were
a little off. Up until the Presto, the sound was of the ‘well
behaved’ kind. But suddenly the entire quartet sounded different:
Full bodied and with a rakish touch, taking some risks, laying it on
thick. What a lovely flexibility from one bar to another instead of
having ‘one sound’ per player that only changes along the lines of
the dynamic markings. Again, this was good stuff.

But the best was yet to come, and it came in the form of Erwin
Schulhoff’s String Quartet No.1. That the EnAccord was only one of
two quartets to have chosen this work from the given options
probably points to the fact that this 106 year young band (total,
obviously, not average) were among the few who bothered to look at
the score, and beyond the first page, too. It begins with an unisono
assault on the listener, the first few pages inauspiciously black
with notes. But things turn immediately to the charming, and then to
unbridled fun. The music is very viola friendly (Rosalinde Kluck),
there is lots of sul ponticello whispering, there are slides,
tickles and spider-feet, pizzicato picking, au talon
bowing, and col legno
knocking… in short: it’s a whole bag of fun; frankly, it kicks ass.
The only thing I wondered after the dreamy Andante molto
sostenuto finale (where Ilka van der Plas demonstrated how to
play perfect flageolet notes) was why I had not known this marvelous
Schulhoff quartet already. It was nothing short of a revelation.

Three highlights of the kind I’d be lucky to hear played so well in
any professional chamber series might make greedy. So I went back to
Studio 1 where I would arrive in time to hear the last two violists
of the first day in the second round of their competition. Just so
that I wouldn’t forget the privilege of the quartet session, but
also because those two last candidates included the stand-out
performers from the second day of round one: Wen Xiao Zheng
from China and the Russian Sergey Malov.

Brahms’ op.120/1 sonata in f-minor is not necessarily
among the most pleasurable of his chamber works –
especially in its viola arrangement. But after three viola-solo days
I met it with some degree of gratitude. Since at least one movement
of this work was required in the second round, everyone among the 18
participants left played it. (My gratitude would surely have
declined considerably had I heard all nine on this day.) Wen Xiao’s
reading of the first movement was good, but not special.

Sergey Malov, instead, played the whole work – and he knew why:
Rarely have I heard this sonata tackled with such an intuitively
right mix of attention to detail and comprehensive outline.
Pleasurable Brahms, this, with all the necessary intensity and
degree of schmaltz that makes the potentially dry music go down the
ears smoothly. Malov’s other chosen works were the short Ligeti
“Chaconne chromatique” and the Hindemith Sonata for Viola and Piano
in F-major op.11/4. In the latter case you can observe the rare
occasion of prettiness courtesy of Hindemith - but as so much of his
music, this sonata, too, outstays its welcome. Especially when
consumed after a day crammed full with so much other music.

Wen Xiao Zheng’s second piece was the Stravinsky Elegie, a
work with many traps, not the least the soft double-stop studded
beginning and the interval-jumping that follows. All needs to be
played tenderly yet with great certainty and of course pin-point
precision. As a piece of “music to listen to” it won’t likely become
any more popular than it already isn’t. But for presenting one’s
skill in handling the viola’s soft and light sides, it is very well
suited. Consequently WXZ’s performance was not pleasurable due to
some highlights, it was immensely impressive for mistakes not made.

But only in the Beethoven-laced Shostakovich Sonata for Viola and
Piano op.147 did Wen Xiao Zheng deliver on the promise of his
Tuesday performance: Calm beauty and an immensely tasteful vibrato,
slow increases of intensity and immediate returns to gentleness,
total control and total evenness of tone were all indicative of his
merit not just as a violist, but as a musician. He is a player of
character in possession of some of those intangible qualities that
should point to a bright future, even if he were not to win a prize
at this competition. Remember the name if you dig the viola.

Results from Day 3 and 4: Alexander Akimov (Russia), Benedikt Schneider (Germany), Julie
Risbet (France), Dimitri Murrath (Belgium), Li Teng (China), and
Lotem Beider (Israel) made it into this second round from day 3’s
batch; Barbara Buntock (Germany), David Kim (USA), and Ida Bryhn
(Norway) from day 4.